“He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” Isaiah 40:29
Dear Ones:
When Adam and Even sinned in the Garden of Eden, the Lord brought about His word concerning the consequences of sin: “For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.” (Gen. 2:17) One of the terrible effects of sin for mankind, is that there would be a lessening of the strength, and power, to live. Moses, in his great prayer in Psalm 90, would write: “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years…” (v.10) The point is this concerning the existence of man…he needs strength, power to live, because he has working against his existence, forces and laws of nature, that will eventually bring him to the end of his strength.
From a spiritual standpoint, we look beyond the issue of man existing physically, to that of living spiritually. As to the duration of that life, it is eternal, because its essence is IN God, IN Christ. When Paul speaks of knowing the “power of the resurrection” in Philippians 3, He is speaking not only of that moment when the believer shall “fly away,” (Moses), and shall ever be with the Lord. He speaks of a present “taste” and experience of the power of that resurrection in one’s own existence on this earth. In his letter to the Ephesians, he writes of God’s ability to do the wonderful thing in the life, that which is “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” (v.20) He then qualifies this “working,” as it will be “…according to the power that worketh in us.” Not only do we need strength, and power, to live physically, but we need power from on High, that very power from God, Christ who IS our power. The question arises: How is one to know this power, this enablement, this quiet strength, to BE what we should be, and DO what we should do, in God’s sight?
To answer this question, we go back to the Jesus’ teaching concerning the Publican, who went up to the temple to pray. He offers no justification for his life before God, no proclamation of what he has done right. Scripture says he, “….would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven but smote upon his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.'” (Luke 18:13) Jesus would then say concerning this man: “This man went down to his house justified…he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (v.14) Who does God justify? To whom does God give the blessing? It is to the one who in truth comes to Him, as he is, a sinner in need to receive mercy. And so it is with strength, and power.
In Isaiah, in what appears to be the very cry of the heart of God to Jerusalem, and in a larger measure, to Israel and the world, He tells her that her warfare is ended, that she has received double for all her sins. (Is. 40) That “warfare” with God, and her innumerable sins, have left Israel without strength, without hope, without the power to exist, or rise up and again know the presence and glory of God. It is to this one, “dry” and broken, that the Lord in His goodness comes, and says: “Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, ‘My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgement is passed over from my God?” Israel has come to believe that she is cast off from God, that God has forsaken her, never to look kindly toward her again. It is to this one, in this condition, that the wonderful words of power and strength come: “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have NO strength, He increases strength.” (Is. 40:29) What is to be her response to such wonderful news in the form of this promise? “They that wait upon the Lord SHALL renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.” (v.31)
Dear Father, Thou blessed Giver of physical life, in that Thou art our Creator, give to us, in Your mercy, Thy blessed strength, and power, to live unto You. Strengthen us in our hearts and spirits by Thy Spirit, to take Thee at Thy word, and to wait in resolute expectation upon Thee, for You are faithful who has promised. We praise and thank Thee, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad